I wanted to start a discussion on why some wild redfoots show signs of a super smooth surface finish on the carapace(almost like a bowling ball in some cases) and why captive bred reds don't. As time passes we are seeing more and more good quality smooth captive bred(CB) torts, but they never have the super smooth surface finish(texture) o n the carapace. The overall shape is good but the growth lines are blatantly obvious with peaks and valleys when you zoom in.
Also I've seen large WC that are in captivity and the new owner rears them with perfect form, however the new growth in captivity is never the same as the wild growth, yes it carries on growing smooth but not on the same plane as the wild growth and not as smoother surface finish and it's always lower.
Thoughts that run through my head are things like.....
Are we growing them too fast, if the growth rings are tighter together then does this give a smoother surface finish.
Is it abrasion from a constant barrage of pushing through dense foliage.
Is it abrasion from hiding in burrows, but would this really give a smooth surface finish as even as we see.
Is it the growth, as they get older is new keratin growth growing over old growth, does this answer why some torts have thicker growth than others, or is the thick growth because they grew so slowly in the wild.
Do they get a constant barrage of heavy rain for prolonged parts of the yr, does hiding in grass with heavy rain pounding the carapace smooth it off. Sounds far fetched, but it happens to rocks/stones. Keratin is softer than stone.
A few random photos I found on the net to look at. The first one thinking is wild caught with a small amount of good captive growth at a lower level.
Last one I'm thinking is showing a very good CB (probably farm raised) in the foreground and a WC in the background.
A few other questions I keep asking myself that could be related to how a carapace grows.
Are we able to dictate a tortoises metabolism and growth rate to how we start it off regarding diet. I have some juveniles that are happy to eat what they need and go hide for days at a time sometimes, I have others that are just out and out greedy, even though they are all growing into sub adults they follow the same eating pattern. Some scoff everything and some seem to eat what they need and thats it. In nature for fear of being eaten as a baby do they just eat what's necessary to survive then hide away until bigger. This could be imitated in what I'm seeing, the ones that don't eat like pigs were the subordinate babies, the dominant become pigs and grow faster, is there no dominant pigs in the wild because all are potential prey.
Also when we see a difference in growth when a WC is brought into captivity, is it because no matter what we can not imitate the exact diet of where the WC's locality was. This would suggest diet is related to the Carapaces appearance.
Yes I know I know, I think too much
Also I've seen large WC that are in captivity and the new owner rears them with perfect form, however the new growth in captivity is never the same as the wild growth, yes it carries on growing smooth but not on the same plane as the wild growth and not as smoother surface finish and it's always lower.
Thoughts that run through my head are things like.....
Are we growing them too fast, if the growth rings are tighter together then does this give a smoother surface finish.
Is it abrasion from a constant barrage of pushing through dense foliage.
Is it abrasion from hiding in burrows, but would this really give a smooth surface finish as even as we see.
Is it the growth, as they get older is new keratin growth growing over old growth, does this answer why some torts have thicker growth than others, or is the thick growth because they grew so slowly in the wild.
Do they get a constant barrage of heavy rain for prolonged parts of the yr, does hiding in grass with heavy rain pounding the carapace smooth it off. Sounds far fetched, but it happens to rocks/stones. Keratin is softer than stone.
A few random photos I found on the net to look at. The first one thinking is wild caught with a small amount of good captive growth at a lower level.
Last one I'm thinking is showing a very good CB (probably farm raised) in the foreground and a WC in the background.
A few other questions I keep asking myself that could be related to how a carapace grows.
Are we able to dictate a tortoises metabolism and growth rate to how we start it off regarding diet. I have some juveniles that are happy to eat what they need and go hide for days at a time sometimes, I have others that are just out and out greedy, even though they are all growing into sub adults they follow the same eating pattern. Some scoff everything and some seem to eat what they need and thats it. In nature for fear of being eaten as a baby do they just eat what's necessary to survive then hide away until bigger. This could be imitated in what I'm seeing, the ones that don't eat like pigs were the subordinate babies, the dominant become pigs and grow faster, is there no dominant pigs in the wild because all are potential prey.
Also when we see a difference in growth when a WC is brought into captivity, is it because no matter what we can not imitate the exact diet of where the WC's locality was. This would suggest diet is related to the Carapaces appearance.
Yes I know I know, I think too much